Just found out my head gasket is shot, only had the car two weeks - guessing the guy knew.

Gonna cost me a bomb

 

Look on the bright side, you can't own a Scooby long term without suffering HG failure, so you're getting it out of the way in the early stages. However unfortunately it won't be cheap to fix. Are you mechanically minded or do you need someone to do it for you, where are you?

 

not good might aswell upgrade it when you replace it

 

Could be worse, bought a Hawkeye STI and the piston ring land has gone. Gonna cost more than a HG! Only had the car a couple of weeks too.

 

Had my 12year old scooby 18months can't fault it. Tho it will turn to 70,000 this week

 

I'm not mechanically minded, though I know some people who are, think I can get it done for about £600 (changing both heads) some garages wanted £1000!

 

Are you 100 percent sure its gone mate? What are your symptoms?

 

No heat from fans, high revs on idling, and slight misfire, an honest mechanic has diagnosed it, I'm just scouting out quotes right now

 

OK a bit of advice, only get it done by a reputable specialist & best fit a set of shells while the engine is out. Not a cheap job but at least you should have some peace of mind once it's done.

 

As above, they have a habit of doing the crankshaft bearings after the heads go, so, while the engine is out, get it split and new ones.
Peace of mind.

 

Funny enough mate happend to me, i brought my second wagon, said water pump failed, i replaced then found out hg gone, fuming and tryed to contact him, im stripping engine now, hope goes well for you.

 

Good advice here. In fact some engine builders will not do just an HG repair without splitting the block at at least checking the shells. It's false economy not to as water/coolant in the oil can damage them and drasticly shorten their life, which in turn can damage other components like the crank.

 

thanks guys, good advice as usual!

 

Also check the oil pick up pipe they have a habit of coming loose aswell

 

I feel ur pain! Same thing happened to me after owning a hawk for 1 week. Had the big end bearing done as well. Only bright side is it gives u a chance to do things like the timing belt at the cost of the part as labour is already covered when the engines out. I also had the oil pick up pipe fault too! Just be sure to give it to someone who knows scoobies!

 

Had the same, got the HGs done for me by some "scooby specialist" w4nker.
12 months later went to API for a forged rebuild due to fractured oil pipe pick up, failed big end and ringland failure.
Wish I had gone straight there in the first place - would have saved me a lot of money and aggravation.
We live and we learn!

 

Get a coolant "litmus" test done to see if there are exhaust gas products in the coolant, the symptoms you describe could very well be pointing to something else as well.

cheers

bob

 

Bit shocked everybody thinks owning an impreza is linked to changing the H/G, i guess if you buy a ragged one thats been over boosted or poorly maintained but thats the same for any car, off topic i know, but stereotyping the car with h/g failure does my nut in.

you get what you pay for i guess

 

Mine did it's headgaskets. It was never ragged, I rarely used the boost, it was driven carefully and considerately, and serviced.

The headgaskets went anyway

Oh....and I had it from brand new, the headgaskets went at 56,000 miles, ie: eight years old, during the middle of summer

 

My car is one of the cleanest classics & has had a fortune spent on it. It's properly mapped & isn't overboosted, but has had 2 HG failures in 7 years. It's driven as it's ment to be, which is fairly hard after being properly warmed up, but if I wanted to drive like a pensioner I'd buy a 1l Corsa. HG failure on an Impreza is very common ask any specialist.

 

Head gasket failure on a Subaru is NOT very common. It happens sure, but given the sheer number of them out there, l would put big end failure far ahead of head gaskets every day.

One thing IS certain. if you don't do the crank bearings at the same time on a Pre 2001 car, you run a very high risk of crank bearing failure within 6 weeks of the head gasket repair.

Call me Monday if you like for talk and no nonsense advice.

David APi

01926 614333

 

Guess Iv been unlucky then, or perhaps Iv been lucky as Iv not had a big end failure yet although I know people who have. However I always make sure my oil is warm before allowing boost & I change my Fuchs/Silkolene fully synthetic evry 3K.